Spurs building a young focused squad under Pochettino

It was a different level but I remember being in the final year at school and playing Sunday football. We had a PE teacher and his friend in their thirties, a twenty something and us, 17, 18 and 19 year-olds, life was fun.



We trained together, we played together, we drank together, we went on tours together and many of us played Saturday football together as well. The point is we had a bond then, we fought for each other, we didn't want to let out teammates, our friends down. As a result we gave everything and put the effort in when we trained, be it in the gym or outside.

I mention that because that is the type of spirit being created at Tottenham, where everyone fights for one another and those not prepared to left out. Pochettino has always had a bond with the youth at each club he has been to and that seems to be clearly developing at Tottenham. It's now a youthful side who all seem to be friend and get along as Ryan Mason pointed out recently in an interview with FourFourTwo.

“It's a lot of fun, definitely. The players who are currently playing at youth level can see so many of us making progress and it gives the whole club a lift. 
“We've all played in front of 100 people together, so to all play in the Premier League week in and week out, and at Wembley too, has just been a dream.”

Certain of the fraternity who don't embrace that ethos have been ostracised and left in no doubt they must leave the club, instead of hanging on as we have so often seen before.

We seem to now be building the family I have been writing about instead of relying on money mercenaries in the hope they will actually want to achieve something with the club and not just play on their terms. The players have been saying they stop and chat together after training, they are friends, life is fun. Fun aids achievement as long as you don't lose sight of your focus, recent quotes from Nabil Bentaleb and Harry Kane suggest personal focus has been retained with a desire to continue individual improvement.

I hear a lot of nonsense spoken about players not fitting our system. These are professional players, human beings that have shown an ability to learn about football, have shown they can adapt and be educated. They didn't get where they are by saying this is all I can do, build a team to suit me please. All footballers are capable of playing in any system, if and that is the key, IF they want to.

If they don't adapt it's because they haven't wanted it enough, if you want something, you find a way to achieve come what may, you don't make excuses and give up or say i can't. You get out there and you do it.

I didn't get a run of games, utter garbage, Harry Kane didn't need a run of games, Nabil Bentaleb didn't need a run of games, Ryan Mason didn't need a run of games, Eric Dier didn't need a run of games, it's a myth, it's an excuse. If you want something you go out, grab it and don't let go, that is a winning mentality, that is what we want at Tottenham. If you don't have it you don't have a place at Tottenham, that should be the philosophy and clearly with out youth it is.

The next step is key because we have to bring in the right players into the group atmosphere, the latest of which we are informed is Austrian 24-year-old FC Koln centre-back Kevin Wimmer.